216 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 63 



■ To return to the holas: It is attributed to the Onus by a whoh' group 

 of writers (Fitz-Ro}', a, 1.37; Garson, 143; Colini, 158; Brinton, c, 330). 

 Dr. Garson's passage is based on Admiral Fitz-Rov's, and the latter's 

 is derived, as the close similarity in wording and matter pretty clearly 

 shows, from Father Falkner's account of the Yacana-cunnee fill): 

 ''They . . . catch guanacoes and ostriches with their bowls." The 

 inclusion of the ostiich shows that in all probability Father Falkner is 

 here speaking of Patagonians, not Onas, as the rhea is not found, and 

 as far as our information goes has never been found, south of the 

 Strait. Moreover, none of the above writers base their statements on 

 pereonal observation. 



According to Admiral Fitz-Roy (a, 186), "Mr. Low has seen Fue- 

 gians with balls (bolas) in the northern part of their country" — a 

 somewhat vague localization, referring, possibly, to the Gulf of Penas 

 Indians or to people of mixed Fuegian-Patagonian blood or culture. 

 Dr. Skottsberg was told (b, 271) by Capt. Steele that the Gulf of Penas 

 natives use a two-ball bolas in hunting huemuls, but Capt. Steele's 

 data on this, as on some other points, require confirmation. Finally, 

 Dr. Cojazzi, speaking of the Alacaluf, says (124): "La boleadora e 

 un' arma da loro molto usata"— if so, it is difficult to explain the 

 silence of a host of fii"st-hand witnesses, except on the ground that the 

 weapon is of verv" recent importation. Father Beau voir ascribes (h. 

 203-204) the bolas to the Onas, biit other first-hand authorities, 

 though describing Ona culture in detail, make no mention of this 

 weapon as being in actual use by them. 



Finally, bolas balls, without, however, the thongs or covers, have 

 not infrequently been found in Fuegia, one by the Skottsberg expe- 

 dition at Cape Victory, in Alacalufan territory (Skottsberg, b, 273- 

 274; d, 605), and several in Onan territory (E. Nordenskiold, 21; 

 GiglioU, b, Arch., 262, repr., 246; C. Gallardo, 310; Furlong, collection 

 in Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., New York). These finds may point to a 

 former use of the weapon, common or sporadic, but not necessarily. 

 With the exceptions noted above, all first-hand sources on Onan and 

 Alacalufan culture are silent. The bolas baUs, like the morning-star 

 club heads, may well have drifted into Fuegia as unused exotics. 



To sum up: As the evidence stands at present, it would be unsafe 

 to conclude that the Fuegians have ever actually used the bolas as a 

 weapon, except, perhaps, in view of the testimonies of Capt. Steele 

 and the Salesians, in very recent years. 



Tools 



This branch of material culture has been treated to a certain extent 

 incidentally in the preceding sections. A few notes are here ap- 

 pended. 



Scrapers. — Among skin-using tribes like the Fuegian the scraper 

 naturally takes an important place. The Onas use a small bit of 



